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TI-84 Plus series
Line of graphing calculators produced by Texas Instruments From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The TI-84 Plus series is a line of graphing calculators produced by Texas Instruments. They have amassed a significant following for their support of assembly language and TI-BASIC programs, and the original TI-84 Plus was one of the first calculators to have a substantial hobbyist community. As a result, the series boasts a large library of community-created programs and software.
The family was superseded by the TI-84 Plus CE series in 2015; of the original series, only the TI-84 Plus is still in production, the Silver Edition and C Silver Edition having been discontinued that same year. However, the TI-84 Plus line remains popular in the United States, being issued by schools more than 20 years after its introduction.
In recent years, the series has received media attention from technology publications due to modern app releases for the platform, such as an unofficial ChatGPT client and a locally-run neural network. Conversely, the series has also been criticized for helping stagnate technology development and contributing to Texas Instruments' calculator monopoly.
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Editions
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TI-84 Plus
The original TI-84 Plus[a] was released in 2004 as an upgrade to the TI-83 Plus.[3] Together with the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, they are known as the monochromes due to their monochrome displays.[4]
The keyboard layout, program compatibility, and interface of the TI-84 Plus are identical to that of its predecessor. Despite this, it has significantly improved hardware; its CPU, the Zilog Z80, is 2.5 times as fast as the one in the TI-83 Plus, its display is of a higher contrast, and it has thrice as much flash memory.[3][5][6] The TI-84 Plus introduced a real-time clock and a mini-USB data transfer port.[7] The USB port is USB On-The-Go compliant—similar to the TI-Nspire calculator—allowing the TI-84 Plus to connect to, and exchange data with, another calculator; Texas Instruments calls this feature Link Mode.[8] It can also connect to a computer to transfer programs and files using Texas Instruments' proprietary program, TI-Connect.[9]
An all-white variant of the TI-84 Plus was introduced in 2023.[10] As of 2025, the TI-84 Plus is still in production and issued by schools around the United States; critics claim that the continued prevalence of the TI-84 Plus holds back technology and is a sign of monopoly, and that Texas Instruments exploits its calculator dominance by raising prices to unreasonable levels.[11][12]
TI-84 Plus Silver Edition
The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition (SE) was introduced on January 7, 2004 as an upgrade to the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition. It features 24 KB of user-available RAM; the calculator technically has 128 KB—48 KB in newer revisions—but the operating system was never updated to utilize it. It has 1.5 MB of user-accessible ROM, more than three times the 480 KB in the TI-84 Plus. It came preloaded with approximately 30 applications.[13]
The Silver Edition has interchangeable faceplates, and you can purchase new faceplates at Texas Instruments' online store.[14] It was discontinued in 2015, making the TI-84 Plus the only currently produced calculator in the series.[15]
TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
The TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition (C SE) was released in 2013 as the first Z80-based Texas Instruments graphing calculator with a color screen.[16]
It introduced a 320-by-240 pixel color screen, a modified version of the TI-84 Plus's 2.55MP operating system, and a removable 1200 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery.[17][16] It was praised for its high-resolution color screen, which added new capabilities such as the ability to graph multiple simultaneous functions in different colors.[18] The C Silver Edition would not be Texas Instruments' last foray into color-screen calculators for the student market; the TI-84 Plus CE was introduced—with an upgraded CPU—two years later.[19] The C Silver Edition was discontinued a few months after the launch of the CE.[15]
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Software
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Programs and applications
The TI-84 has a significant hobbyist following, and a wide variety of official and community-made software has been developed for it over the years.[20][21] These include video games, math programs, educational tools, and graphing software. Applications (also called flash applications) are stored in the calculator's ROM; these tend to be more complex than standard programs.[22]
In recent years, programmers have created internet-based programs like a ChatGPT client, graphical ray-casting software, and even neural networks that incorporate primitive artificial intelligence.[23][24][25] These developments have attracted the attention of technology publications.[26][27][28]
The TI-84 Plus series supports two programming languages: TI-BASIC and Z80 assembly.[6] There are also unofficial languages—such as the Axe Parser—that are developed specifically for the TI-84 Plus series.[29]
Operating systems
There have been eight operating system releases for the monochrome calculators in the series (which include the TI-84 Plus and the Silver Edition),[7][6] and two releases for the C Silver Edition.[30][16] TI-84 Plus series calculators can run custom user interface shells, such as MirageOS and Doors CS.[31] In addition, calculators with an older bootloader can run custom operating systems like KnightOS.[32][33]
Monochrome calculators
C Silver Edition
Linking software
Texas Instruments develops the TI-Connect linking software, which hosts a number of sub-programs (called software tools) to manage the data on TI-84 Plus series calculators.[38][39]
Texas Instruments' newer program for the TI-84 Plus CE series calculators, TI-Connect CE, is backwards-compatible with the TI-84 Plus series; it can be used in place of TI-Connect.[40] TI-Connect is compatible with Windows XP and above,[38] while TI-Connect CE is compatible with Windows 10 and above.[40]
There are multiple third-party linking programs compatible with the TI-84 Plus series; most were developed for archaic platforms like the Commodore Amiga, the Atari, and MS-DOS, and cannot be run on modern computers.[41][42] However, one of these programs—known as TiLP[b]—is more recent and supports Windows, macOS, and Linux.[45]
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Technical specifications
Variants
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TI-84 Plus EZ-Spot
The TI-84 Plus EZ-Spot series, also known as the School editions and the School Property editions, are variants of TI-84 Plus series calculators produced by Texas Instruments and only made available for schools to purchase.[48] They have the words School Property emblazoned on their faceplate and are accented yellow; this easily distinguishable design was chosen in an effort to prevent theft.[49] The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition and C Silver Edition also had EZ-Spot variants.[50]
TI-84 Plus Silver Edition VSC
The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition ViewScreen Calculator, also known as the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition VSC, is a variant of the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition intended for educational use.[51] It has a display output that allows it to connect to a ViewScreen, which is a projection system that mirrors the calculator's display.[52]
TI-84 Plus T
The TI-84 Plus T is a variant of the TI-84 Plus; it was introduced in 2015 by Texas Instruments, exclusive to the Netherlands.[53] This variant is similar to the rest of the series, but features an LED to indicate whether or not the calculator is in press-to-test mode. The hardware of the TI-84 Plus T is similar to the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, but the TI-84 Plus T is no longer able to run the assembler.[53]
TI-84 Plus Pocket
The TI-84 Pocket.fr was introduced in 2011 as a miniaturized variant of the TI-84 Plus for the French market.[54] A year later, the TI-84 Plus Pocket SE was introduced as a miniaturized variant of the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition for the Asian market.[55]
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See also
Notes
- The "Plus" in "TI-84 Plus" represents the fact that it has user-accessible flash memory,[1] continuing a naming convention that originated with the TI-83 series.[2] It does not descend from "the TI-84", and no original "TI-84" calculator ever existed.[3]
- TiLP stands for "TiLP is a Linking Program", which is a recursive acronym.[43] The original TiLP (known as TiLP-1) was supplanted by TiLP II (also known as TiLP-2) around mid-2006.[44] This article refers to TiLP II when using the name TiLP.
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